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Dan Malloy: Feds must act on guns

Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy on Friday said that while the federal government has fallen short on federal gun control measures, that “can’t be an excuse” for inaction on guns at the state level.

“We do need federal action,” the Democratic governor said at the third annual State Solutions Conferences sponsored by POLITICO and Microsoft. But, he added, “Lack of federal action can’t be an excuse, particularly in my state and what we’ve been through.”

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Gov. Dan Malloy talks Hillary/Biden 2016

Malloy’s comments came a day after he and Vice President Joe Biden appeared together to advocate for tougher gun control measures, and about two months after the December massacre in Newtown, Conn., that killed 26 people including 20 children. At the event on Friday, Malloy called for broadening his state’s ban on assault weapons “in a way the NRA can’t try to truck through.”

Newtown was “an unbelievable tragedy which I’m absolutely convinced has changed the tenor of our discussion in the United States about what to do about gun violence,” Malloy said. “What we want to do is have a safer state. I did roll out a pretty comprehensive list of things I believe should be included in future legislation, including banning the future sale of assault weapons and defining [them] in a way the NRA can’t try to truck through.”

When asked by POLITICO’s Jonathan Martin about whether the federal government has “fallen short” on the subject, the Connecticut governor responded, “sure it has.” He cited a 1994 assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, and added, “clearly, we’ve let a lot of people down.”

Malloy also pointed to disparities in state-level gun restrictions, saying that unauthorized weapons are often trafficked into states with tough gun laws from states with looser weapons restrictions.

During his interview with POLITICO, Malloy also slammed Republicans for not negotiating, he said, on sequestration. But he did have kind words for one GOP lawmaker: Malloy named Gov. Bill Haslam (R-Tenn.) when asked about his favorite governor from the other side.